February 26, 2014

Do Punked Performers Own ther Copyright?

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco says the YouTube posting of “Innocence of Muslims” infringed upon actress Cindy Lee Garcia's copyright to her role in the film. Google, which has removed the clip, said it will appeal the decision. “Had Ms. Garcia known the true nature of the propaganda film the producers were planning, she would never had agreed to appear in the movie,” said Cris Armenta, Garcia’s attorney.

There is an expression among lawyers that "bad facts make bad law." This is a perfect example. Everyone knows it's wrong that this woman was duped. And everyone knows it was wrong to make this video. But that doesn't mean that she owns the copyright. People like Ashton Kutcher, mJimmy Kimmel and Sacha Baron Cohen must be sweating bullets over this decision, but I'd be surprised to see it stand.